The Let's Play Archive

Part 33: Battle: Tur-bad

Welcome back. Last time we were on the run from the most dangerous man in the continent, and this time he is right in front of us. Let's run like hell. After a How's Everyone, of course.

Forgot to screencap the result, it was 30 EXP.

Temporary boost to Speed. Could come in handy in a few situations.

Well, you can actually use one of those stats.

As soon as the map starts, a scene plays and a Cavalier rides up...

Oh hey, Prologue buddy!

: Steve! You too! You've guarded Prince Marth well.

: Sir Cain! You made it!

: I'm truly glad that you came back unharmed, Cain.

: Yeah, somehow I managed to shake off the enemy and escape here. But the enemy is already approaching from the north.

Probably because Hardin fucking loves his Generals.

: Don't worry. We will crush them.

This is pretty for Marth.

: No, not this time. Hardin is being protected by a mysterious power: we can't lay a finger on him. So even if we fight now, we haven't a chance of winning.

This is actually gameplay relevant. If you're suicidal enough to try and fight Hardin in this chapter, you'll quickly find that you do no damage. He is completely invincible.

: Please, head to the northwestern fortress. There's a boat across the river, which we can use to escape to the Khadein desert.

: Sire, the free company to the south will probably make their move soon. Indeed, now's not the time to fight. For the time being, let's do as Cain suggests and make our escape. After that, we'll think of something...

: I see... I don't like it, but we haven't a choice... Everyone, hurry to the northwest fortress!

Alright, so this map looks a little harder than it is. Once again that big clump of Heroes in the south won't attack us...at least until we hit Turn Eight. When Turn 8 rolls around, all hell breaks loose. If you want the village, and use Feena a bit, you have just enough time to finish up and get all the characters before they all rush you.

Speaking of the village, sending Marth there IMMEDIATELY.

Cain is back from the prologue. He's missed out on 10 or so chapters of growth compared to a lot of our other prologue characters, so he's not the beast he was back then. Honestly, if you wanted to use a new Cavalier by this point, you'd have been better off with Frey. He's not terrible, but you probably have better options by now. If you like him and want to put the work in, though, he's workable, especially on lower difficulties.

I had Caeda weaken this guy with the Javelin first, because those Devil Swords are dangerous as hell.

That said, that's a damn good level.

He had a black screen I forgot to crop! (And a Firestone. Don't worry, we'll see what those do this chapter.)

A Dance boost from Feena gets Catria to the southern thief and a pretty great level.

And more importantly? This. The Leo Starshard gives the holder +2 Strength, making it one of the most useful shards.

I'm sending people to the bridge as soon as I can. Time is really of the essence on this one.

Hardin looks a little, uh, angrier than he used to.

Some dangerous enemies up here, Killer Lances on a promoted class are no joke.

Roger is a bit funnier.

Keep in mind that Armorslayer exists if you're using a Knight here. That hurts.

Slightly more dangerous for me is this. That Ridersbane is an automatic triple damage weapon against mounted units, of which I have two right here.

Luke finishes off the first Paladin pretty quickly, thanks to his fantastic strength.

Cain retreats and Wendell pops a Heal on him. Roger and the Paladin together chunked him down pretty hard.

Speaking of Roger...

: Thank goodness, Roger. It's nice to see you again.

: Uh... Uhm, you should know, I've no plans to betray Archanea. I was just thinking about that time when you asked me "do you believe in love?" But I'm different from who I was back then.

: Really? But you still seem like a nice man. That's why I wanted to speak to you again.

: Uhh...

: May I just ask, why are you fighting for Archanea?

: Be-because Archanea has already taken over the world. Resistance is futile: no one can win. My life is precious to me. If I side with whoever's stronger, then I'm guaranteed to live longer...

I dunno, nobody on my side has died yet, and we've chewed through at least 100 guys by now...

: I see.

: A-are you disappointed with me?

: No, never. As I thought, you're fighting for what you believe in. You're not different. You're the same, kind man as when I first met you and I'm happy for that.

: Uhhh... Wait- you're leaving?!

: Yes. I too must fight for what I believe in. But I'll make a request to Marth so that we don't have to fight you. I'm happy that we could talk again, Roger.

And then Caeda stabbed him to death and gained some sweet EXP.

: W-wait! ...As I thought, you're still very kind. Dare I say, we don't have girls quite like you back in Grust or Archanea. Um, perhaps... I suppose I could... Aw heck, I'm going with you again!

Oh. Or that.

Roger here has pretty good growths in most stats (A terrible 0% in Res though), with a highlight being his above average (for a Knight) Speed. Unfortunately, he's not too great when he first joins, so a few rounds in the Drill Grounds are a good idea if you want to use him.

Feena resets Caeda.

And we all get to see the TRUE MIGHT OF CAEDA. The Wing Spear kicks ass.

I decided to gamble on the 74% hit chance for this Hand Axe.

He delivers a little extra.

Have I mentioned how much I love Barst lately?

Meanwhile, back at the start, Marth has reached his destination.

: Ah, Bantu! Fancy meeting you in a place like this. How is Tiki?

Bantu is a Manakete (Dragon-person), but one of the few who's on our side. Tiki was his sort of adopted daughter in the last game, the last of the Divine Dragons.

: Oh, she is no longer by my side. Lord Gotoh took her to the Ice Dragon Shrine again.

: The Ice Dragon Shrine? Where's that? I've never heard of such a place...

: It's in the icy lands, far north of here. But it's no place for humans. Besides the hero Anri, no man has been there yet.

: Anri?! Are you, perchance, referring to the "Realm of the Gods" from Anri's legends?

: I'm not at liberty to say anything more. If you want to know more, you should ask Lord Gotoh. Anyhow, I have a favor to ask of you. My precious firestone was stolen by thieves. If you can get it back for me, I'll show you how it works. Thank you, Prince Marth.

But he knows how it works, he got it back for you in the last game. Never mind.

So, uh, those stats. I don't want to say anything yet, because Manaketes have a special gimmick, but suffice to say that's about what you should expect.

And here's the gimmick. The Stone Manaketes have equipped determines their stats. The Firestone is the weakest of all, but also the only one we have available. Even with those stat boosts, Bantu is still below average, his weapons are hard to find, and his growths are awful. Bantu is straight up terrible, sadly, because an old man who turns into a dragon is pretty cool.

I have Luke and Barst move forward. There are some enemies in a big group up here, and if I can pull them onto the bridge? Much easier to deal with.

(apologies if there's some weird continuity issues with these next few pictures, I had to do a load state a few times around here due to bad luck with crits.)

There's an armory on this map with some pretty good stuff.

I bought one of each item here.

Malicia, Caeda, and Feena head north, while Ogma, Navarre, Catria, and Steve take the south end.

As soon as Turn 3 starts, all these guys spawn, along with a mage.

Stylish dodge from Barst.

Stylish crit from Barst.

Barst Barst Barst

Oh, yeah, there's that mage.

One of Jeorge's two sniper buddies gets pulled over too.

And now all the Generals are on our tail. Fantastic.

Caeda makes a retreat slightly off of the bridge.

And now I start pulling everyone back, because I don't want to pull the other sniper over too, and bottlenecks are easier on me than the enemy.

Hope you like Vulnerarys.

Barst gets hit pretty bad.

And lives with...one HP. Excuse me while I finally exhale again.

Catria and Steve are holding the line pretty well down here. I want to keep these reinforcements away from the main group so we don't get sandwiched.

I do like Hardin sort of gradually taunting you as this map goes on. Helps dial up the "oh shit" factor of it.

Pretty good level, little sad at the lack of Mag, but certainly not complaining.

Vulnerarys are getting a workout on this map.

38% Crit. The Wo Dao is a damn good weapon.

And this should come in pretty handy.

Cain and Catria form blockades, Barst chugs an Energy Drink. I'm playing pretty defensively right now, but Marth is still on his way, so I'm not too worried about spending some time turtling up.

Catria is still great, this shouldn't be surprising.

Some of the action up top gives Luke a level as well.

Cain's not going to do much damage, but at least he can soak a hit.

As soon as this turn starts, the same crop of reinforcements that showed up on Turn 3 comes back. The Mage is still the most dangerous part.

Still love that Wing Spear.

The Quick Axe here hits twice as many times as a normal weapon. That means instead of Barst doing 9x2 here, he did 9x4. That was the end of this guy.

Not a great level, but I like those stats.

Oh, there's that Magic gain!

This Arms Scroll gives you a free rank up to any of your weapon ranks. That's really useful for reclassed units especially.

Oh yeah like that, thanks game.

Marth is finally here, and that means he's on bait duty.

Wendell heals up Steve, as we're getting close to the end and I'm running out of Vulnerarys.

Almost finished up down here now.

Plan "Marth Bait" is still effective.

Catria is getting pretty damn close to promotion.

Fileting that sniper gives Navarre a great level.

And with Feena's dance, we get to the dramatic boss encounter for this chapter. I should note you can also talk to Jeorge here with Gordin for the same effect.

: I know. As do I. You taught Gordin how to use a bow. And you were an instructor to the junior knights of Altea. You've been a great boon to Altea: I could never fight you, Sir Jeorge.

: Prince... I pledged allegiance to Princess Nyna. But I can tolerate Hardin no longer... Taking other countries by force, executing "rebels" without reason...

Oh, well, that was easy.

: ...Hardin was my friend. But he has changed beyond recognition. If he is committing any sort of crime, then I shall stop him. Jeorge, please, help me.

: ...I understand, Prince. To return the kingdom of Archanea to what it was once before... I will take it upon myself to turn my bow against my homeland.

And with that relatively simple conversation, we get our third character for this map, a Starshard, and a legendary weapon. Nice.

Jeorge has Saggitarius, which gives +2 Skill, and Parthia, which gives a whopping 18 Might and a special effect where you can Use it in the menu to increase your Res by 7. It's also the only A Rank bow in the game.

Jeorge himself is a decent unit. His growths are bad, but for the time being, he's quite the powerhouse, especially if you care to use Parthia. It does have a limited number of uses, like everything else. Still, his bow usage makes him great as an anti-flier character, so I like using him.

I took this opportunity to let Wendell exercise some of his sweet Magic skills.

Feena gets a level as well. And now let's finish this map as soon as possible.

: Worry not, sire. I will remain here. I will regroup with everyone later.

: Steve! But...

: Sire, you of all people know that Steve is more than capable. As long as Steve is there, everyone will escape safely and reunite with you at once. Now sire, to the boat!

Nice to get some respect from Jagen.

STEVE, SERIOUSLY NOT THE DAMN TIME.

: I don't mind if you keep it for a little longer. Do you wish to give it back?

: No... If it's alright with you, I'd like to hold on it a little longer.

: Yes, that would be splendid. ...By the way, should I be hurrying too?

At this point I assume Hardin had to get distracted by a bird or something.

: Erm... Yes, hurry up and escape!

And that concludes Chapter 8. With proper use of Feena, you can probably finish it faster, but you'd miss that whole scene with Hardin, and where's the fun in that?

There are some quotes for attacking the boss enemies in this chapter, but if you get them (Aside from the Jeorge ones I guess), you're probably going to die, so I'm just putting them at the end of the update.

: You traitors! I'll show you the might of Mercurius!!

: You wouldn't have needed to die if you hadn't come so close, fools...

Hardin has 3!

: Rebel soldiers... Come to die, have you? I'll show you the terror of Gradivus!

Against Marth:

: Prince Marth! I'll bury you with these very hands!

Against Steve

: Who are you? Your face is unknown to me.

: Steve. I am Prince Marth's Royal Guard. Emperor Hardin of Archanea, the prince told me that you were once a trusted friend. Why would you do something like this?

: Steve, is it...? What does it matter to you? You will die here regardless.

Next time, we'll have escaped the imminent danger of Archanea and stepped into a whole new mess.